Founded in 1995, the second-hand bookstore Antiquariat Wiederhold has been a favorite for booklovers in the literal central part of Berlin: Mitte. Named after its keeper’s patronymic, the always beautifully presented windows are not just a regularly changed thematic showcase. It may very oftentimes tell stories of many used books, and, particularly, their former owners: as a fan since 2017, I have purchased from Wiederhold some of my essential documents, originally owned by a late East German diplomat in China, a late storyteller, or, more recently, a late passionate Slavist.
As with most of Berlin’s bookstores, Wiederhold offers mainly books in German, and very notably, an interesting variety of literary writings or monographies in or on German dialects. There’s good news, however: what makes Wiederhold special is the strong presence of the considerable number of books in English, French, Russian (also in Italian and Spanish). You can also find a huge collection of dictionaries in world languages, among some occasional bilingual anthologies of poetry in many other languages. At Wiederhold, Goethe very naturally has his own separate special section, and Murakami of course is among the many world literature figures.
Personally, alongside the many German books of different curiosities, I have bought an Andersen in Polish, a religious classic in Tamil, a haiku anthology in Lithuanian, and my whole collection of Dostoevsky in Russian.
